A D D R B S 8 . XIII 



the rich harvests of autumn wave, as lately we saw 

 in the valley of the Shenandoah; and the result often is 

 that the greater portiQii is destroyed, while only a 

 remnant goes to feed the contending hosts, and the 

 poor laborer is left to hunger and want. War causes 

 an immense waste in consumption. In the feeding of 

 large armies, there is an utter disregard of all that 

 economy and thrift which characterize the ordinary 

 household consumption in times of peace. Some 

 political theorists have regarded war as a convenient 

 means of reducing a surplus population. It may well 

 be questioned, whether war ever fails to reduce the 

 production of a country in fully as large a proportion as 

 it reduces population. If it did not, it would be 

 reasonable to look for a diminution in the price of the 

 necessaries of life in time of war, whereas in fact it is 

 well known that an advance in the prices of these 

 necessaries is an almost invariable accompaniment of a 

 state of warfare. 



There is one more interesting view of the productive 

 power of the earth, namely, its relation to the natural 

 growth of population. There has been, from the begin- 

 ning, a constant increase in the total population of the 

 globe, constant, except as interrupted by one great 

 judgment of God in ancient times. Population may be 

 checked in a particular country, for a time, by pesti- 

 lence, by war, by bad government and oppression. 

 Thus want, discontent, and consequent emigration, have 

 greatly reduced the population of Ireland, within the 

 last quarter of a century. And, on the other hand, a 

 particular country may gain much more than its natural 

 increase, as this country has gained by immigration from 



